Texans' Johnson makes splash in homecoming

Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson (80) makes a University of Miami sign after scoring a touch down in the fourth quarter of a NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011, in Sun Life Stadium in Miami. The Texans won 23-13.

Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson (80) makes a University of Miami sign after scoring a touch down in the fourth quarter of a NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011, in

Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson (80) makes a University of Miami sign after scoring a touch down in the fourth quarter of a NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011, in Sun Life Stadium in Miami. The Texans won 23-13.

Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson (80) makes a University of Miami sign after scoring a touch down in the fourth quarter of a NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011, in

The Miami native caught a game-high seven balls for 93 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter that brought the emotion out of Johnson - he flashed the "U" hand signal made famous by himself and his fellow University of Miami alumni.

"I grew up in this area, and my childhood dream was to play in this stadium," Johnson said. "This is my third time being able to play here, and I ended up with 170 tickets. It's a lot of fun to be back home and play in front of my family and friends."

Powerful leg

At Central Michigan, Brett Hartmann recalls launching a punt in excess of 60 yards, but he can't be certain of how far.

Fortunately for the Texans rookie punter, he has a new personal best that will remain fresh in his memory bank. Against the Dolphins, Hartmann drilled a team-record 69-yarder Sunday.

"I just felt comfortable out there," said Hartmann, who managed to thank nearly everyone remotely involved in the kick.

In praise of defense

The Texans allowed only one touchdown to the Dolphins, on Chad Henne's 12-yard pass to Brandon Marshall.

"In the first half, we moved the heck out of the ball, but we didn't run the ball well in the red zone," coach Gary Kubiak said about settling forNeil Rackers field goals. "The defense kept us in the game. We held them to field goals.

"This game came down to the red zone, and neither offense really played well. Our defense made some big plays down there, though."

Just finish

Matt Schaub accepted the responsibility of attempting to close out the Dolphins on Sunday on behalf of the offense because that's his job, he said.

"When you're a quarterback in this league, you have to have that mentality," Schaub said. "Every time you go out there in practice or in a game situation, when a play is called we just try to go out there and make plays.

"If it's not there, we'll check it down and let our backs underneath make some plays. You just have to go and play ball, and we were fortunate to have great play up front. Our line, our tight ends and our running backs ran the ball well today, and the guys on the outside made plays."

Earlier, the Texans had to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns. But Schaub and Andre Johnson connected late for a touchdown.

"That was huge for us," Schaub said. "We had the ball all day, but it was us stopping ourselves. "We had some penalties on a couple of drives that put us in some tough situations, some long-yardage downs, but when the defense got that turnover and we were able to get seven out it, that was big for us."

Improving negatives

After the game, coach Gary Kubiak talked about what the Texans did well and what they didn't do well.

There were plenty of thoughts to go around.

"I think we're overcoming some of our negatives better than we have in the past - as of right now," he said.

In other words, they're better at overcoming mistakes.

"In the third quarter, we just shot ourselves in the foot," Kubiak said. "We had big penalties. We faced second-and-20 three times."

But they overcame it when Matt Schaub threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Andre Johnson that made it 23-13.

New cast of characters

The Texans limited Miami quarterback Chad Henne to 12-of-30 passing for 170 yards and a touchdown. He was intercepted once, sacked twice and finished with a 56.2 rating.

Henne threw for 416 yards in their loss to New England.

"It's a new year for us," outside linebacker Mario Williams said. "We're definitely coming (after the quarterback). We've got guys showing up left and right, and we're going to get better. We're just trying to be relentless."

Bad environment

The Dolphins started seven of their possessions at their 20-yard line or inside their 20.

They're 0-2 this season at Sun Life Stadium, where they have a six-game losing streak. The Dolphins are 1-11 in their past 12 home games.

The Dolphins have finished 1-7 at home in two of their past five seasons, four that produced losing records.